Your laser
The job
How big
Baselines are community starting points at reference wattage - your lens, focus, and material batch will differ. Burn a test grid before the real piece.
| Laser | Power | Speed | Passes |
|---|
Test grid
Burn this on offcut before the real piece. Each square uses the power on its row and the speed in its column. Keep the one that looks right.
Local onlyThe settings table and scaling math are JavaScript in this tab. Your laser profile stays in this browser's local storage - nothing is uploaded, and the page works offline once loaded.
Watch the Short
Laser engraving settings: 10W and 20W are not the same
Plays right here. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.
Every laser forum thread ends the same way: "what settings did you use?" - and every answer is calibrated to somebody else's machine. The variable that actually transfers between machines is energy density: how many watts land on the material per unit of travel. This calculator keeps a baseline table per material and laser type, works out the wattage each baseline assumes, and re-expresses it for your machine - dropping the power percentage if you're stronger, slowing the travel and adding passes if you're weaker.
The table covers the common bench: wood and plywood, MDF, leather, cast acrylic, anodized aluminum, stainless with marking spray, slate, cardboard, felt, and glass, across diode, CO2, and fiber sources. Where a combination genuinely doesn't work - a diode into clear acrylic or glass, a fiber into wood - the calculator says so instead of inventing a number.
Laser engraving speed chart
These are the starting settings the calculator above scales from, at a reference power for each kind of laser. If your laser is stronger or weaker, set its wattage in the calculator and it adjusts the power, speed and passes for you. Treat every number as a place to start: burn a test grid on a scrap of the same material before the real piece.
Diode laser, 10 W
| Material | Engrave power | Engrave speed | Cut power | Cut speed | Passes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood / plywood | 60% | 3,000 mm/min 50 mm/s | 100% | 180 mm/min 3 mm/s | 2 |
| MDF | 65% | 2,500 mm/min 42 mm/s | 100% | 150 mm/min 2 mm/s | 3 |
| Leather | 35% | 4,000 mm/min 67 mm/s | 90% | 300 mm/min 5 mm/s | 1 |
| Acrylic (dark cast) | 70% | 1,500 mm/min 25 mm/s | 100% | 120 mm/min 2 mm/s | 3 |
| Anodized aluminum | 80% | 1,200 mm/min 20 mm/s | no cut | ||
| Stainless (marking spray) | 100% | 600 mm/min 10 mm/s | no cut | ||
| Slate / stone | 75% | 1,800 mm/min 30 mm/s | no cut | ||
| Cardboard | 20% | 4,500 mm/min 75 mm/s | 65% | 600 mm/min 10 mm/s | 1 |
| Felt / fabric | 25% | 4,000 mm/min 67 mm/s | 50% | 800 mm/min 13 mm/s | 1 |
| Glass | not suitable | no cut |
CO2 laser, 60 W
| Material | Engrave power | Engrave speed | Cut power | Cut speed | Passes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood / plywood | 25% | 18,000 mm/min 300 mm/s | 70% | 900 mm/min 15 mm/s | 1 |
| MDF | 30% | 15,000 mm/min 250 mm/s | 75% | 780 mm/min 13 mm/s | 1 |
| Leather | 20% | 18,000 mm/min 300 mm/s | 50% | 1,200 mm/min 20 mm/s | 1 |
| Acrylic (cast) | 30% | 15,000 mm/min 250 mm/s | 65% | 720 mm/min 12 mm/s | 1 |
| Anodized aluminum | 40% | 12,000 mm/min 200 mm/s | no cut | ||
| Stainless (marking spray) | 90% | 3,000 mm/min 50 mm/s | no cut | ||
| Slate / stone | 35% | 12,000 mm/min 200 mm/s | no cut | ||
| Cardboard | 15% | 21,000 mm/min 350 mm/s | 40% | 2,400 mm/min 40 mm/s | 1 |
| Felt / fabric | 12% | 18,000 mm/min 300 mm/s | 35% | 3,000 mm/min 50 mm/s | 1 |
| Glass | 30% | 9,000 mm/min 150 mm/s | no cut |
Fiber laser, 20 W
| Material | Engrave power | Engrave speed | Cut power | Cut speed | Passes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anodized aluminum | 60% | 40,000 mm/min 667 mm/s | no cut | ||
| Stainless steel | 80% | 20,000 mm/min 333 mm/s | no cut | ||
| Wood / plywood | not suitable | no cut | |||
| Acrylic | not suitable | no cut | |||
| Glass | not suitable | no cut |
Cut figures for wood are for about 3 mm plywood. Speeds are in mm per minute, with mm per second underneath, because different software uses different units.
Questions this tool gets asked
What power and speed should I use to engrave wood?
On a 10 W diode laser, a common starting point for wood or plywood is about 60% power at 3,000 mm/min in one pass; on a 60 W CO2, closer to 25% power at 18,000 mm/min. Your machine, lens, and the exact wood change everything, which is why this calculator scales the baseline to your wattage and why you should always burn a small test grid on scrap first.
Why do settings change with my laser's wattage?
What the material feels is energy density - how many watts arrive per unit of travel. A 5 W diode must run slower or hotter than a 20 W to deposit the same energy. This calculator computes the watts the baseline assumes, then re-expresses it as a percentage of your laser: if your machine is stronger, power drops; if it's weaker, power caps at 100% and speed slows (and passes increase) to compensate.
Can a diode laser cut clear acrylic?
No. Blue diode light (~450 nm) passes straight through clear and lightly tinted acrylic without being absorbed. Dark cast acrylic works; for clear acrylic you need a CO2 laser, whose 10,600 nm wavelength acrylic absorbs completely - and it leaves flame-polished edges.
What is a test grid and why should I run one?
A test grid is a small array of squares burned at stepped power and speed combinations on a scrap of your exact material. Two sheets of plywood from the same shelf can burn differently, and lens condition, focus, and air assist shift results too. Treat this calculator's output as the center of your grid, not gospel: grid a few steps either side and pick the square that looks right.
Is speed in mm/min or mm/s?
This calculator shows both. Diode-laser software (LightBurn device profiles, most open-frame machines) usually speaks mm/min, while many CO2 machines and their DSP controllers speak mm/s. Divide mm/min by 60 to get mm/s. Entering the wrong unit is the most common way to ruin a job - a 6,000 mm/min engrave typed as 6,000 mm/s will barely mark.
Does anything I enter leave my browser?
No. The settings table and the scaling math live in this page's JavaScript, your selections are remembered in this browser's local storage only, and the page works offline once loaded. Nothing is uploaded.
What settings should I use for slate coasters on a diode laser?
On a 10 W diode, start near 75% power at 1,800 mm/min, one pass - slate engraves by micro-fracturing and likes power. Guides online quote anything from 25% to 95% for 'a diode' because they never say which wattage; scale to yours with this calculator (pick Slate + your watts). Wipe the engraving with mineral oil afterward for contrast, and always grid-test one coaster from the batch.
Why is my laser not cutting through 3 mm plywood?
Four usual suspects, in order: focus set to the surface instead of mid-depth, no air assist (smoke recasts into the kerf), underpowered for single-pass cutting (a 5-10 W diode wants 2-3 passes - the calculator above adds passes automatically when your wattage is below baseline), and glue-heavy plywood - some interior glues barely cut. If a pass stalls at the same depth, more passes will not help; fix focus and air first.
What laser settings for engraving a leather patch?
Veg-tan leather engraves fast and light - around 35% power at 4,000 mm/min on a 10 W diode; scale it with the calculator above. Two hard rules: only vegetable-tanned leather (chrome-tan releases toxic fumes), and sneak up on depth - leather darkens sharply with small power increases. Mask with paper tape to keep soot off the surrounding grain.
Why do laser settings from Facebook groups never work on my machine?
Because a setting is only meaningful with its wattage, and posts rarely include it - 40% on a 20 W diode is double the energy of 40% on a 10 W. Speed units make it worse: 6,000 mm/min and 6,000 mm/s differ by 60×, and diode and CO2 software default to different units. This calculator normalizes both - it scales baseline energy to your stated watts and prints speed in both units.
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